Germanys antitrust watchdog plans to stop Facebook from gathering some user data after its investigation found that the social media giant has been collecting information without peoples knowledge or consent According to Reuters a German paper reported that the Federal Cartel Office will reportedly present its ruling to Facebook within the next few weeks The agency specifically has issues with how the company gathers data from third-party apps including its own WhatsApp and Instagram as well as games and websites In addition the German agency objects to the companys tracking of people who are not even members of the site A company spokeswoman said Facebook disputes the agencys findings and plans to defend itself The Federal Cartel Office has been investigating Facebook since 2015 before it was revealed that now defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica accessed the data on 87 million Facebook users without their consent That scandal is being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission the Justice Department and the FBI Aside from its issues in the US Facebook was also hit with a 644 600 fine in the UK after it was found that an estimated 1 million residents were affected by the scandal The Information Commissioners Office ICO ruled that the company was engaged in serious breaches of data protection Facebook has said that it plans to appeal the fine Facebook failed to sufficiently protect the privacy of its users before during and after the unlawful processing of this data said Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham at the time A company of its size and expertise should have known better and it should have done better In addition the company could face billions in possible fines in Europe after a data breach that impacted about 50 million user accounts If Facebook is found to have breached the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR by not protecting user data the fines could reach around 16 billion LATEST INSIGHTS Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation thats reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem Check out the latest PYMNTS Digital Drive Report data protection Facebook GDPR Germany News privacy social media user data Whats Hot